Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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130. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason for the delays in amending the planning regulations on solar panel installations on schools and community buildings in view of the fact that the Climate Action Plan 2019 committed to relax the strict requirement for planning permission by the end of quarter 4 of 2019. [17490/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act), all development, unless specifically exempted under the Act or associated Regulations, requires planning permission. Section 4 of the Act and Schedule 2 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, set out various exemptions from the requirement to obtain planning permission. Any such exemptions are subject to compliance with any general restrictions on exemptions set out in the Act or the Regulations and to the specific conditions set out in each class of exempted development in Schedule 2 of the Regulations.

With regard to exemptions for solar panels, Class 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Regulations provides an exemption for the installation or erection of a solar panel on, or within the curtilage of a house or any buildings within the curtilage of a house, subject to certain siting and size conditions.

Class 56 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Regulations provides an exemption for the installation or erection on a business premises or industrial/light industrial building, or any ancillary buildings within the curtilage of such premises or building, of solar panels (thermal collector or photo-voltaic), subject to certain siting and size conditions.

Furthermore, Class 18 of Part 3 of Schedule 2 of the Regulations provides an exemption for the installation or erection on an agricultural structure, or within the curtilage of an agricultural holding, of solar panels (thermal collector or photo-voltaic), again subject to a number of conditions.

As part of the Climate Action Plan 2019, my Department is currently undertaking a review of the solar panel exemptions, and is actively engaging with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment as well as other key stakeholders. This review is now largely complete. One of the key considerations of the review is to ensure that solar panels can be erected - subject to certain siting and size conditions - without the need to obtain planning permission, to facilitate the generation of energy for self-consumption. Included in this review is the potential for extending the solar panel exemptions to educational and community buildings.

The main outstanding issue that remains to be addressed in the current review is the potential for "glint and glare" impacts for aircraft and the need to ensure that they do not result in any real or potential threat to aviation safety. Accordingly, my Department is presently engaging with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment as well as the Irish Aviation Authority, in order to find a safe and workable solution in relation to this particular aspect of the review. It is intended that work on this outstanding issue will be completed in the coming months.

As required under planning legislation, any such proposed exempted development regulations must be laid in draft form before the Houses of the Oireachtas and receive a positive resolution from both Houses before they can be made.

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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131. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider making change of use or class of use to childcare facilities exempt from planning permission even on a limited or temporary basis to facilitate the early years sector during this challenging post-Covid-19 landscape. [17493/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act), all development, unless specifically exempted under the Act or associated Regulations, requires planning permission. Section 4 of the Act and Article 6 and Schedule 2 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended (the Regulations) set out in more detail the various exemptions from the requirement to obtain planning permission.

Furthermore, Article 10 of the Regulations provides that certain changes of use, with regard to particular classes of use, are also exempted from the requirement to obtain permission. Any such exemptions are subject to compliance with any general restrictions on exemptions set out in the Act or the Regulations and to the specific conditions set out in each class of exempted development in Schedule 2 of the Regulations.

Article 10(5) of the Regulations provides that:

‘Development consisting of the use of a house for child minding shall be exempted development for the purposes of the Act.’

However, it is important to note that, for the purposes of Article 10(5), the Regulations provide that “child minding” means the activity of minding no more than 6 children, including the children, if any, of the person minding, in the house of that person, for profit or gain.

There are no other exemptions provided in relation to childcare facilities.

Exemptions from the requirement to obtain planning permission in respect of specific forms of development are provided for when they are considered to be consistent with proper planning and sustainable development.

With regard to whether a particular development requires planning permission, an individual can apply to his/her local planning authority for a determination under section 5 of the Act as to whether any particular case is or is not development, or is or is not exempted development, within the meaning of the Act.

The granting of planning permission or a declaration that development is exempted development does not solely authorise development, including "change of use" of premises, to proceed where other consents are required. The operation of a childcare facility may be subject to multiple requirements of which planning is just one. I have no plans to introduce new exempted development planning regulations allowing for the "change of use" of a premises to a childcare facility.

It should be noted that my Department issued guidance to the planning authorities under section 28 of the 2000 Act in relation to emergency measures taken by the Government in relation to the current situation brought about by the Covid-19 virus. The guidance includes recommendations made in relation to planning enforcement in accordance with Government policy. This guidance addresses the operation of childcare facilities. A copy of the Guidance is available on my Departments website at the following link:

Furthermore, Planning Circular PL 03/2016 requested planning authorities with effect from September 2016 to expedite:

- all pre-planning application consultation requests from childcare facility providers in relation to proposals to extend opening hours, to increase capacity or to provide new facilities, and

- consideration, insofar as is possible, of all planning applications or Section 5 declaration submissions in respect of childcare facilities in order to facilitate the expansion of required capacity as appropriate.